SUNDERLAND — When preparing the fiscal year 2026 revenue sheets, town officials discovered an omission on residents’ tax bills.

Town Administrator Becky Torres, who joined the town in November, said she discovered the community didn’t raise the capital stabilization override amount of $409,875 for the fiscal year.

“In the process of doing [the revenue sheets], I started questioning some things that didn’t look right and that’s how we made the discovery,” Torres said Wednesday. “It was an accounting error, basically, by missing one entry and they had done it successfully in ’24, so I’m not sure why it wasn’t successfully done in ’25.”

Residents approved a $275,000 Proposition 2½ override for the Capital Stabilization Fund at the 2023 annual town election to support future projects. Voters in 2014 also approved a $100,000 override for capital projects.

The omission now has town officials determining how to address the issue, as the town has already expended the funds for its capital projects.

While it’s “quite a setback” for Sunderland’s future capital planning, Torres explained the upcoming FY26 budget will not be affected and the town has been seeking guidance from the state Department of Revenue. The error essentially amounted to a one-year tax break that residents will need to address.

“It’s quite a setback, but at the end of the day, the public did not have to pay the override this year,” Torres said.

At Monday’s Selectboard meeting, board members and the Finance Committee discussed how to approach the error, with the most likely strategy being a Special Town Meeting before the April 25 Annual Town Meeting.

“We are now expending the amount, the $409,000. Those projects were almost completed when we discovered we didn’t have the money to pay for them, so we will be going to a Special Town Meeting … for FY25 ahead of the Annual Town Meeting,” Torres said at Monday’s meeting.

Selectboard Chair Nathaniel Waring said is vital that residents approve transferring money to remedy the error, as there “might be some longer-term consequences” when it comes to capital planning.

“Everybody in town got a tax break this year,” Waring said. “We’re not coming after you, because we can’t, but we’re asking you now to make this right. … The town did approve the money. It’s already been spent, it wasn’t raised.”

Waring added that the issue has been a “huge hand grenade” thrown into the town’s general financial and capital planning, as reserves will likely need to be tapped to close the gap because borrowing or a budget override should be a last resort.

With a $409,875 deficit to remedy, potential funding sources include free cash or the General Stabilization Fund. There is already about $200,000 in the Capital Stabilization Account, which means the town could make up the difference by transferring at least $209,000 to address the money the town didn’t raise through taxes this year, but town officials say they might want to keep some sort of buffer in the account.

The town could also transfer the full $409,875 to retain the $200,000 in the Capital Stabilization Account as a future reserve. Selectboard members will discuss their approach in the next few weeks.

“We’re not only potentially losing the buffer we had, we’re also losing the reserves we already had,” Waring said, adding that the board’s “No. 1 job here is to be fiscally responsible.” “The hurt is going to be felt most in the General Stabilization Fund.”

Sunderland’s Annual Town Meeting is set for Friday, April 25. The Special Town Meeting to address the $409,875 in capital stabilization override funds is expected to be scheduled on the same day.

Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com.